How to use old version of Wechat (out of date, unable to login)

As of August 2021, I and Anonymous^[1] have verified that the minimun version requirement for wechat login is 8.0.0. However, after login, you may use an older version, for instance 7.0.10. So how do we do that?

First, download the apk of wechat 8.0.0. Install and log in. You may use for a while and check all functionalities work.

Download Android platform-tools because we need its adb tool.

Then, download the apk of an older wechat, for instance 7.0.10. On your computer terminal, type adb install -d WeChat_v7.0.10.apk. -d means downgrade.

Launch the wechat app again on your phone. It should not ask you to log in. You go straight into the chatting interface and you may verify all functionalities work.

The advantages of this approach are that root permission is not needed, neither is Titanium Backup^[2].

References

1. Anonymous. 微信目前可用最低版本. . 2021-08-22 [2021-08-30].↑
2. Izzy. Howto downgrade any app to the previous version without losing data on android oreo?. . 2020-03-24 [2021-08-30].↑